Social Finance works with philanthropic funders at every stage of their journey, from those starting out to experienced practitioners. We partner with private and community foundations to educate their staff and partners, build new philanthropic approaches, and advance effective practices.
Overview
Many philanthropic funders are interested in exploring impact-first investments, which can be repaid and reinvested rather than spent once. We help donors align their giving with their values, whether through a curated fund, a portfolio built around a focus area, or guidance on where to start.
Foundations come to us from different starting points. Some are interested in making their first impact investment, and others manage large portfolios and want a clearer picture of what their capital is achieving. We bring investing, program design, and measurement experience together so a foundation’s grants, investments, and learning can reinforce one another.
Impact investing involves risk, including possible loss of capital.
Offerings
Investing for Impact
For philanthropic funders interested in impact-first investing, our curated portfolio offers an accessible entry point. Our Impact First Fund invests in business models that help people maintain resilient communities, pursue opportunities to generate income, and build wealth.
We advise individuals, families, foundations, and DAFs on how to incorporate impact-first investments into their philanthropic activities. By shifting a portion of their portfolio to impact-first investments, investors can see their dollars create more impact over time.
We design, build, and manage custom portfolios on behalf of individuals and families, foundations or groups of foundations, orienting each investment to the portfolio’s specific focus area. Each portfolio starts with the investor’s priorities, and Social Finance handles sourcing, diligence, and measurement and evaluation.
We help foundations measure and manage the impact of their impact-first investment portfolios. Our team has unique expertise as impact investors, measurement and evaluation experts, and data analytics professionals.
We partner with foundations on how to maximize the impact of every dollar spent, often through partnerships across the public and private sectors. We help funders design programs, align stakeholders, and manage for impact over time.
With foundations, governments, and private sector partners, we design workforce funds that recycle funding based on outcomes. As learners earn a minimum salary after training, funds are repaid and used to support the next learner.
We partner with foundations to conduct research and write publications. We often document lessons from the field or investigate key questions in blog posts, articles, and reports.
Spotlight:Demystifying Program-Related Investing: Lessons from Recent Adopters
For foundations weighing a move into program-related investments, this paper offers practical guidance, drawn from the experiences of 36 U.S. foundations.
Social Finance was a terrific partner in a five-month engagement to build the foundation of our impact investing program. Their team was consistently professional, timely, and well-prepared, and together we developed a clear plan spanning donor outreach, funding structure, governance, and investment execution.
Erin Lusins, Chief Financial Officer, Community Foundation of Jackson Hole
Non-advisory Client of SF Advisers, LLC. No compensation was provided in exchange for testimonial.
I've long wanted to deploy more of our assets toward impact, but navigating early-stage opportunities felt overwhelming and resource-intensive. Working with Social Finance—whose deep diligence guides every step—makes it easier to confidently mobilize capital toward meaningful, measurable impact.
Andrew Balson, recommended an investment in the Impact First Fund through a DAF
No compensation was provided in exchange for testimonial.
Our thanks to the Social Finance Team and the consultants with whom they partnered for their mindful approach, thoughtful analysis, and actionable synthesis of the learnings to inform our work and the work of others.
Kimberlee Cornett, Senior Director of Impact Investments and Dr. Christine Fu, Senior Program Officer, Research-Learning-Evaluation, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
No compensation was provided in exchange for testimonial.
WhatareImpact-FirstInvestments?
Philanthropy alone is insufficient to address the scale of our biggest challenge. Impact-first investments bring the rigor of investing to your philanthropic goals, creating returns that can be reinvested to multiply your impact over time.
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